John Everett Millais, artist and founder member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was born on this date in 1829. 10 facts about him:
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He was born in Southampton but his family were from Jersey, so he spent much of his childhood there and loved the island for the rest of his life.
He was a child prodigy in art. Encouraged by his mother, he was nine years old when he began studying at Sass's Art School, and eleven when he was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools. He was their youngest ever student. He won a silver medal at the Society of Arts at the age of nine, a silver medal at 13 for drawing from the antique, and a gold medal at 16 for his painting The Tribe of Benjamin Seizing the Daughters of Shiloh.
At the Royal Academy, he met William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The three shared the opinion that Raphael and the later Renaissance tradition were not the be all and end all when it came to art, as the Academy taught. The trio thought that earlier artists like Jan van Eyck and Albrecht Dürer were much more inspiring. So, they formed the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood at his family home in London, at 83 Gower Street (now number 7).
One painting of his which was especially controversial was Christ in the House of His Parents, which depicted the Holy Family at work in a carpenter's workshop. I mean, how DARE he suggest that Jesus might actually have come from a working class background?
Another of his famous paintings is Ophelia. His model, Elizabeth Siddal, was required to lie in a bath of Water with candles burning underneath so she would stay warm while Millais produced a picture of a drowned woman.
Millais didn’t just produce fine art paintings. He was also a book illustrator. He illustrated the works of Anthony Trollope and Tennyson.
Millais became friends with a critic called John Ruskin who was in favour of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Ruskin was married to a woman called Effie. They had been married for several years the marriage had never been consummated. Effie became a model for Millais and they fell in love. Effie’s parents had realised their daughter’s marriage to Ruskin wasn’t right and applied for the marriage to be annulled, after which Effie married Millais. He had a better idea of what was expected of a husband, and they went on to have eight children.
Another very recognisable painting is Bubbles, a painting of a small boy looking at a soap bubble. It’s well known because Millais allowed it to be used as an advert for Pears soap. The original title was A Child's World, and the model was his grandson, William Milbourne James, aged five. James grew up to become an admiral in the Royal Navy, but could never quite shake off the association with the advert. He was known as "Bubbles" for the rest of his life.
In July 1885, Queen Victoria made him a baronet, of Palace Gate, in the parish of St Mary Abbot, Kensington, in the county of Middlesex, and of Saint Ouen, in the Island of Jersey. He was the first artist to be honoured with a hereditary title.
In 1896, Millais was elected President of the Royal Academy. However, when he was elected, he was already suffering from throat cancer, and he died just six months later at the age of 67.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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